The Borobudur Temple: A Cosmic Stupa

From: Indosphere

Image source — Joel Santos

Dating from the period of the Sailendra (‘Lords of the Mountain’) dynasty in Java, the exquisite temple of Borobudur and its carvings form a divine exposition of Buddhist doctrine.

Borobudur consists of two million blocks of lava rock, 2,700 carved story panels and 504 Buddha statues. Borobudur is actually a giant textbook of Buddhism, as its base reliefs tell the story of the life of Buddha and the principles of his teachings.

A universe in small scale

Bhumisambara (Borobudur’s original name) was built as a stepped pyramid. At the base of the massive temple, reliefs of Karmawibhangga — depiction of human life in the endless cycle of death and rebirth (Saṃsāra) as well as the law of cause and effect (karmic law) — were carved on all sides.

All Buddhas sit in small bell-like stupa structures covering them, corresponding with what the Prajnaparamita sūtra calls “the Womb of the Buddhas”, symbolizing their Enlightened State.

Viewed from above, Borobudur takes the form of a giant mandala, symbolically depicting the path of the bodhisattva from samsara to nirvana, through the story of Sudhana described in the Gandavyuha sūtra, a part of the Avatamsaka sūtra. The monument guides pilgrims through an extensive system of stairways and corridors with 1,460 narrative relief panels on the walls and the balustrades.

The temple is oriented to the four directions and is expanded vertically in accordance with Buddhist cosmology to construct the Universe in a small scale. There are all total four entrances and four complete steps for ascending the highest point from the lowest point from the four directions of East, South, West and North respectively to enter the monument.

Once a year, Buddhists from the whole world celebrate Vesak at the temple.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVCbuXrDa40

A three-fold division

Borobudur perfectly reflects Buddhist cosmology, which divides the universe into three superimposing levels. The three levels are Kamadhatu (world of desire), Rupadhatu (world of forms), and Arupadhatu (world of formlessness).

• Kamadhatu (Bhurloka) — The outer courtyard and the foot (base) part of the temple represents the lowest realm of common mortals; humans, animals and also demons. Where humans are still binded by their lust, desire and unholy way of life. The Kamadhatu level pictures the world of passion and the inevitable laws of karma — Karmavibhangga. The first 117 panels show various actions leading to one and the same result, while the other remaining 43 panels demonstrate the many results that follow one single effect.

• Rupadhatu (Bhuvarloka) — The middle courtyard and the body of the temple represents life on earth in which the soul has been purged of all desires. The middle realm of holy people, rishis and lesser gods. People here began to see the light of truth. The reliefs of the Rupadhatu level show the stories based on the manuscripts of Lalitavistara, Jataka-Avadana and Gandavyuha.

• Arupadhatu (Svargaloka) — The inner courtyard and the roof of the temple represents the soul’s departure from the body and uniting with the gods in Nirvana. This is the highest and holiest realm of gods, or Svarga loka. On the last three circular uppermost terraces, 72 stupas circle the huge main stupa that crowns the top of the temple. The circular form represents the eternity without beginning and without end, a superlative, tranquil, and pure state of the formless world. There are no reliefs on the three circular terraces. Arupadhatu takes the shape of a circle, representing the formless world.

The kamadhatu is represented by the base, the rupadhatu by the five square terraces, and the arupadhatu by the three circular platforms as well as the big stupa. The whole structure shows a uniquely Javanese blending of the very central ideas of ancestor worship, related to the idea of a terraced mountain, combined with the Buddhist concept of attaining Nirvana:

• Ordinary sentient beings live out their lives on the lowest level, the realm of desire.

• Those who have burnt out all desire for continued existence leave the world of desire and live in the world on the level of form alone: they see forms but are not drawn to them.

• Finally, full Buddhas go beyond even form, and experience reality at its purest, most fundamental level, the formless ocean of nirvana. The liberation from the cycle of saṃsāra where the enlightened soul had no longer attached to worldly form is corresponds to the concept of Śūnyatā, or the nonexistence of the self.

A series of five square bases is succeeded by three circular terraces ringed by those 72 stupas, representing the spiritual journey from the life of desire, through meditation to Nirvana. While viewed from above the whole resembles the sacred lotus flower.

On these circular platforms, the famous 72 bell-shaped stupas are situated, inside of each a statue of a Buddha is placed. The top and centre of the entire structure is a large and empty stupa. All terraces and platforms can be reached by means of stairways which are situated at the four sides of the structure.

The entire structure is formed in the shape of a giant twirling staircase, a style of architecture from prehistoric Indonesia. At the 10th and highest level of the temple, is the largest and tallest stupa in Borobudur. Within this stupa was found the ‘Unfinished Buddha’ symbolizing Sanghyang Adi-Buddha, which is now in the Karmawibhangga Museum.

The Jātaka level — Bhikkhuṇī Candraprabhā and Advisors warn the king.

An extremely well-balanced structure

Borobudur‘s 10 levels are designed to correspond with the path to enlightenment. The base is stacked with 5 concentric square terraces connected by staircases in each direction, which are then topped by 3 circular terraces and ultimately by a monumental stupa.

The temple is designed so that visitors can walk clockwise down the open-air paths along the terraces as they move upward while meditating upon the path to enlightenment.

The Buddhas are placed in three circles of 16, 24 and 32 and each looking at a specific spot on three corresponding circles which are situated outside of the perimeter of the structure. Esoterists from all over the world are still trying to find out the meanings contained in the structure of the temple.

There are in these four galleries 432 larger statues of the Lord Buddha ranged at regular intervals along the upper part of the walls, each sitting in its own niche or recessed shrine.

All the 108 images on each side are seated with mūdra. On the North, the mūdra is Abhaya mūdra — Have no fear; on the East, the mūdra is Bhūmisparsha — Touching the earth; on the South, Dāna — Giving; on the West, Dhyāna — Meditation.

Upon either wall of the four galleries we find a continuous series of bas-reliefs illustrating the religious phenomena in ascending gradation.

• the first gallery, that is to say, displays a selection of scenes from the historical life of Buddha

• the second shows us the minor deities of the Brahmanic worship adopted into the Buddhist Pantheon

• the third contains the higher deities, at the plane in which the shrine rather than the deity itself is worshipped

• in the fourth we find only groups of Dhyāni-Buddhas.

In the middle of each of the four sides of the square a steep stairway ascends, the gateway to each stairway being guarded by sitting lions, and spanned by ornate arches of the highest architectural perfection. The main entrance is on the eastern side. The reliefs also depicted mythical spiritual beings in Buddhist beliefs such as asuras, boddhisattvas, kinnaras, gandharvas and apsaras.

The reliefs of noblemen, and noble women, kings, or divine beings such as apsaras, taras and boddhisattvas usually portrayed in tribhanga pose. The three bent pose on neck, hips, and knee with one leg resting and one uphold the body weight. This position is considered as the most graceful pose, such as the figure of Surasundari holding a lotus.

The square lower part of the structure shows us, through hundreds of carved stone panels, all aspects of social or communal life. It is only after this ‘school of human development’ is passed, that the circular platforms with the 72 Stupas are reached. Where the lower part of the structure concerns itself with earthly matters, the upper part seems to be directed towards the cosmos and as such rises far above the lower levels in more than one sense.

Scheltema, in his book Monumental Java, describes it as “the most consummate achievement of Buddhist architecture in the whole world”.

A variety of Javanese motifs and entities are also found in theses compositions, such as the structure of Javanese cottage houses, the birds on its roof or the motifs of trees and leaves.

A scripture set in stone

Borobudur is constructed from 2 million volcanic rocks, and assembled using a complex interlocking technique without the use of cement or mortar. The monument has 2,672 relief panels that if aligned in a row, would stretch a length of over 6 kilometers.

The reliefs are intended to impress lessons of wisdom on the believer’s mind as he ascended the stūpa, and so to prepare him for the attainment of the highest insights of Buddhism.

Reading the panels on the temple walls requires a specific technique. The panels on the wall read from left to right, while those on the balustrade read from right to left, conforming with the pradaksina.

The story begins and ends at the eastern side of the gate at every level. Stairs connect each level to the next from each direction of the compass, but the idea is to always ascend from the stairs at the eastern corner. The ten levels of Borobudur are representations of the Mahayana philosophy which describe the ten levels of Bodhisattva that must be passed to attain the Buddhist perfection.

Jatakas or Buddha´s previous life

Seen from the sky, Borobudur is built in the form of Mount Meru, and is a vertical representation of the Sri Yantra. Borobudur teaches all the steps of Buddhist theology to reach the supreme Buddha state.

When ascending from lower levels to the upper levels, the density of the numbers of human figures gradually becomes very much diluted and also their physical gestures become highly controlled and less suggestive.

In the final upper galleries the compositions contain only the extremely calm, isolated rather static figures in few numbers in compositional space. It is a clear symbolization of the transformation from the earthly sinful life of action and reaction towards the spacious and peaceful state of isolation, meditation and transcendental mind.

In the center and on top of the Borobudur mandala-temple, is located the Main Stupa, symbolizing something much bigger than individual Enlightenment. This Universal Stupa corresponds with “Emptiness beyond Emptines” or Absolute Emptiness in which Relative Emptiness (Enlightenment) disappears, also called Nirvana or Absolute Bottomlessness of the Cosmos.

An astronomical temple

The 4:6:9 ratio has a calendrical, astronomical and cosmological significance, as in Angkor Wat. The gates are adorned with Kala’s head carved on top of each and Makaras projecting from each side. This Kala-Makara motif is commonly found on the gates of Javanese temples.

The positioning of the 72 ‘occupied’ Stupas in three circles of 32, 24 and 16 might give us an indication as to what specific aspects of the cosmos these bell-shaped structures point. The circular platforms on which the Stupas are situated seem to concern themselves with the stars.

The ship reliefs on the East depict a ship underneath celestial objects, commemorating a voyage to Africa. This shows the Indonesians crossed the ocean without a compass, depending solely on the stars for navigation. In 2003–2004, a wooden replica of the Borobudur ship was made and sailed the Cinnamon Route from Jakarta to Accra in Ghana to demonstrate the trans-Indian Ocean trading links of medieval Indonesians and Africans.

A temple to Sanghyang Adi-Buddha

In Buddhist temples throughout in the world, Gautama Buddha is the central figure. Borobudur transcends this. Inside the topmost, central stupa originally stood an incomplete and rough Buddha statue representing Sanghyang Adi-Buddha, or God Almighty, as described in esoteric Indonesian Vajrayana texts such as the Sanghyang Kamahayanikan.

That is why all small stupas are eventually culminating into the Great Stupa, dedicated to Sanghyang Adi-Buddha on top of the temple.

Borobudur therefore is an absolutely unique symbol of Ultimate Truth.

The Krakatau eruption

But in the year 915 A.D. there occurred a terrible volcanic outburst. The great volcano of Krakatau (then called the Rahata or Cancer-volcano) broke out into an eruption so tremendous that it split the whole island into two parts — now called Java and Sumatra respectively — and brought into existence the Straits of Sunda.

At the same time, the volcano Merapi threw out an incredible amount of sand and ashes, destroying almost the whole of Airlanggha’s kingdom, and entirely burying Borobudur, Mendut and Prambanan temples.

This catastrophe is mentioned in the inscriptions of King Airlanggga — sometimes called Jala-langgha (“he who walks over the waters”, apparently because he escaped from the floods caused by the eruption, and retired on Mount Lawu in Surakarta, where be met some Brahmans who were living in the woods there as ascetics.

After some time, however, he came out of his seclusion and made his way into East Java, where he married the daughter of the King of Kediri, and inherited his throne. Under his auspices, Sanskrit learning made great advances in the Kediri and Janggala regions, Buddhism and Hinduism flourished equally under his rule, and started to blend into the Shiva-Buddha religion.

The present royal families of Bali and Lombok are descended from Airlangga.

The Pawon-Mendut alignment

The Borobudur Temple Compounds consists of three monuments: namely the Borobudur Temple and two smaller temples situated to the east on a straight axis to Borobudur;

• Mendut Temple, whose depiction of Buddha is represented by a formidable monolith accompanied by two Bodhisattvas
• Pawon Temple, a smaller temple whose inner space does not reveal which deity might have been the object of worship. Those three monuments represent phases in the attainment of Nirvana.

During the full moon in May or June, Buddhists in Indonesia observe the Vesak annual ritual by walking from Mendut temple, past Pawon and then to Borobudur. The ritual takes the form of Buddhist prayer and pradakshina.

For local Javanese who follow Kejawen or Buddhism, praying in Mendut temple is believed to help to heal diseases.

Getting There

Getting from Yogyakarta to Borobudur takes an hour by car. Vehicles with a driver can easily be rented at the airport or from hotels for about $35 a day.

There are several flights a day to Yogyakarta from both Jakarta and Bali. Flight time is about one hour for both.

From Jakarta, there are several trains a day, costing about $15 for air-conditioned first class, which takes around 8 hours.